The global postal industry reduced its CO2 emissions by 4.2% in 2010, saved more than US$400million in costs in 2009 and 2010 combined, and is now more than half-way to its target of a 20%
cut by 2020, the International Post Corporation (IPC) announced today on the sidelines of the UNclimate conference in Durban, South Africa.The global postal industry last year collectively eliminated 329,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions,which represented a 4.2% reduction on the 2009 total, IPC announced in its 2011 Postal SectorSustainability Report. Together with the 597,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide already cut in 2009, a7.1% reduction on 2008, this represented a global saving of US$412.85m to the postal sector overthe course of the two years, the association said.
These figures mean that participating Posts reduced their CO2 emissions from 8.36 million tonnesin the baseline year of 2008 to 7.4 million tonnes in 2010, an overall cut of 11.1%. This puts theindustry more than half-way towards its goal of a 20% reduction to 6.9 million tones of CO2emissions in 2020, the IPC report showed.
The IPC report also highlights a series of 14 detailed case studies from postal operators on howsustainable initiatives support their bottom line, from cutting costs to expanding market share andenhancing employee engagement.
Commenting on the results, IPC President & CEO Herbert-Michael Zapf said: “There’s no doubtthat doing good means doing well, and this is as true for businesses as it is for the whole globaleconomy: the postal sector has clearly demonstrated how sustainable business practices, and inparticular focusing on cutting emissions, have a positive impact on both the environment and thebottom line. It’s a win-win scenario, and the postal sector shows how quickly we can reap therewards of going green.”
The results were announced at a senior-level international media roundtable in Durban at whichJohn Christensen, Director of the UNEP Risoe Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Developmentin Roskilde, Denmark, was joined by United States Postal Service CEO & Postmaster GeneralPatrick R. Donahoe, South African Post Office CEO Nicholas Buick and IPC’s Herbert-Michael Zapf.Participants discussed how the postal sector is leading by example in bridging the developmentaldivide between industrial and industrialising nations, and how it is proving that up-front andearly investments in combatting climate change make long-term business sense.
This year IPC welcomes South African Post Office into its Environmental Measurement andMonitoring System (EMMS), the global postal industry’s carbon-reduction programme. South AfricanPost Office’s participation is the first of a postal operator from an African and BRICS nation inthe full EMMS programme, and is a further demonstration of how the postal industry is bridging thedevelopmental divide by promoting cooperation between postal operators in developing and developedmarkets.
IPC has already engaged ten operators in developing nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle Eastthrough iEMMS, its introductory carbon benchmarking system. IPC has also this year announced it ispartnering with the UPU in extending the reach of the iEMMS programme to postal operators in asmany developing nations as possible.
